India vs New Zealand, World Cup 2023: India head coach Rahul Dravid has responded to the ICC regarding the rating of Indian pitches during the ODI World Cup 2023. Dravid expressed his opinion while talking to reporters before the India vs New Zealand match. The pitches used in India’s matches against Pakistan (Ahmedabad) and Australia (Chennai) were rated average by the ICC. On this, Dravid gave a blunt reply to the ICC expressing his disagreement. Dravid stressed that in ODIs, one should display a variety of skills and not just aggressive batting.
The pitches used in India’s matches against Pakistan on October 14 and Australia on October 8 were rated ‘average’ by the ICC. This rating was in contrast to other pitches in the competition, which received ‘good’ or ‘very good’ ratings. In Ahmedabad, India bowled out Pakistan for 191 runs in 42.5 overs, while in Chennai they bowled out Australia for 199 runs in 49.3 overs.
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Dravid defended the quality of the pitches saying, “I would certainly disagree with the average rating given to those two pitches. I think those were good pitches. If you only want to see a 350-run match, why are the bowlers playing? You are giving good rating to similar runs pitches, then I disagree with your judgement. I think you have to look at the different skills in the match. Ability to rotate strike, quality of spin bowling and Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli and K.L. Rahul’s innings recovery skills also have to be taken into account.” Dravid highlighted the importance of showing different aspects of the game like this.
“Prioritizing high-scoring matches with only fours and sixes is not the right criteria for rating pitches,” Dravid said. Bowlers and spinners also play an important role in ODI matches. ODIs should involve skill beyond just playing big shots and Dravid stressed the need for a better method to assess the quality of pitches.
The Indian coach added, “To be honest, the few pitches we have played in, Delhi and Pune, we have rotated the strike in the middle overs. It was not a very difficult task to rotate the strike there. The competition was to hit the most fours and sixes. So this is not the only way to evaluate a pitch in my opinion. I think we should have a better way of determining what is a good and average pitch. Sometimes the pitch should have a bit of spin, a bit of swing to help the bowlers as well as the batsmen. We are all used to seeing a good pitch hitting sixes and fours for a total of 350 runs, so I don’t agree with the ICC’s view.” Said the former Indian captain.
